Three girls, three summers, one unbreakable bond as told by Christina García in her contemporary fiction, Dreams of Significant Girls. Garcia’s story follows the lives of Vivien Wahl, Shirin Firouz, and Ingrid Baum, all roommates at a Swiss summer camp. These three girls could not be more different in terms of heritage, personality, and aspirations, but their experiences force an unshakeable bond over the course of three years. Vivien, who lives in New York, after fleeing her home country of Cuba, dreams of becoming a chef. She constantly feels self-conscious about her body, but when she cooks all worries melt away. She loves both of her parents, but finds herself caught up in the middle of their divorce, a position she never thought she
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In an effort to expose Shirin to friends, and potential husbands, she sends Shirin, against her will, to summer camp. Ingrid Baum, a rather rebellious Canadian teen cannot escape her home town reputation. Not only do the people in her small town think she is different, but even her parents suspect something is off. They consistently question her art, which serves as her emotional outlet. In fact, the decision to send Ingrid to summer camp is made after her mom finds a portfolio of her abstract works. All three girls, arrive at boarding school with no intention of enjoying themselves, but soon find common ground in family problems. They are there for each other as they each experience first heartbreak, failure in their passions, and shocking revelations about their intertwining family histories. Against the backdrop of a picturesque Swiss summer camp, these three girls explore what it means to be a woman in today’s world. The novel follows the girls as their values and dreams change and expand to fit the people they become. The overwhelmingly prominent theme of sisterhood, constantly appears, as the girls’ families fail to show support of their passions. Vivien, Shirin, and Ingrid are the three best friends none of them knew they needed, but once together, were necessary for each to …show more content…
This is significant because it gives insight through both direct and indirect characterization into each of the three girls’ personalities. Not just that, but on a larger scale, it pays tribute to the fact that all women do not think and respond in the same way. She uses her severely different characters as an exaggerated nod to this as well. This is displayed when Garcia writes of the first day the girls’ meet each other. She uses each of her characters to describe how they see the others, painting a better picture for the reader. Vivien for example, immediately describes Ingrid as seeming older “because of the way she carried herself.” (5) Showing that from the beginning Ingrid will be a prominent personality, as Vivien, who is just meeting her, is already a bit intimidated. In a similar way, Shirin’s first impression of Vivien was “childish” (11) based purely on the fact that Vivien brought novels, instead of nonfiction books to camp. This revealed the “practical” portion of Shirin’s personality, as well as a hobby of Vivien’s. In complete honesty, I usually do not read contemporary fiction. In fact, I probably would have never picked this book up had it not been for SSR. For this reason, I am not the most knowledgeable in this genre, but all the same I enjoyed it. There were definitely some points where I was a bit less
In an effort to expose Shirin to friends, and potential husbands, she sends Shirin, against her will, to summer camp. Ingrid Baum, a rather rebellious Canadian teen cannot escape her home town reputation. Not only do the people in her small town think she is different, but even her parents suspect something is off. They consistently question her art, which serves as her emotional outlet. In fact, the decision to send Ingrid to summer camp is made after her mom finds a portfolio of her abstract works. All three girls, arrive at boarding school with no intention of enjoying themselves, but soon find common ground in family problems. They are there for each other as they each experience first heartbreak, failure in their passions, and shocking revelations about their intertwining family histories. Against the backdrop of a picturesque Swiss summer camp, these three girls explore what it means to be a woman in today’s world. The novel follows the girls as their values and dreams change and expand to fit the people they become. The overwhelmingly prominent theme of sisterhood, constantly appears, as the girls’ families fail to show support of their passions. Vivien, Shirin, and Ingrid are the three best friends none of them knew they needed, but once together, were necessary for each to …show more content…
This is significant because it gives insight through both direct and indirect characterization into each of the three girls’ personalities. Not just that, but on a larger scale, it pays tribute to the fact that all women do not think and respond in the same way. She uses her severely different characters as an exaggerated nod to this as well. This is displayed when Garcia writes of the first day the girls’ meet each other. She uses each of her characters to describe how they see the others, painting a better picture for the reader. Vivien for example, immediately describes Ingrid as seeming older “because of the way she carried herself.” (5) Showing that from the beginning Ingrid will be a prominent personality, as Vivien, who is just meeting her, is already a bit intimidated. In a similar way, Shirin’s first impression of Vivien was “childish” (11) based purely on the fact that Vivien brought novels, instead of nonfiction books to camp. This revealed the “practical” portion of Shirin’s personality, as well as a hobby of Vivien’s. In complete honesty, I usually do not read contemporary fiction. In fact, I probably would have never picked this book up had it not been for SSR. For this reason, I am not the most knowledgeable in this genre, but all the same I enjoyed it. There were definitely some points where I was a bit less